Canada Gets Tough on Meth

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E-llusion

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CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Thu. Aug. 11 2005 12:38 PM ET

Canada's premiers applauded Ottawa's announcement today to get tougher on those who produce and use methamphetamine -- a highly addictive drug that a study shows is becoming a growing problem in Canada, particularly in the West.

Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Attorney General Irwin Cotler, and Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan announced on Thursday an increase in the maximum penalties from 10 years to life in prison for the:

possession,
trafficking,
importation,
exportation, and
production of methamphetamine.

Ottawa's move puts meth on an equal playing field as cocaine and heroin.

Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert, in Banff for the annual meeting of Canada's premiers and territorial leaders, told reporters Thursday that the stiffer penalties send out "a very significant signal -- both in terms of deterrence to those who would rob hope from our young people, to the production and distribution of meth.

"It also sends a strong signal to Canadians of how significant an issue this has the potential to become. We are going to treat this seriously."

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said Ottawa has now given law enforcement agencies "the tools that they need" to fight the drug's spread, adding, "It's now time to give Canadians the tools they need to do that."

Campbell said a national program of awareness and education was needed to be implemented across the country to fight the "scourge" of methamphetamine.

"It's going to touch everyone in Canada if we don't fight together on it."

Calvert also stressed the meth problem is "not just a Western problem," pointing to a front page Newsweek magazine article detailing how rapidly meth production and addiction have risen over a few short years in the United States.

"While we have a higher number of incidents in Western Canada, you can be sure -- no matter where we live in Canada -- unless we take the actions we're taking now you will see this become a nation-wide issue."

A study released in April, 2005 concluded that while there is no actual crystal meth crisis in the West, use of the drug is rising and its popularity is extending eastward.

"There is a low prevalence of MA (methamphetamine) use among the general population in Canada, but there is an increase in MA use among street-involved youth, gay men, (and) young adults in the club scene," reads the report.

The panel report concluded the 2004 Western Canadian Summit on Methamphetamine, attended by politicians from all levels from across Western Canada, as well as police, meth users, health and advocacy groups.

The penalties

Ottawa has moved methamphetamine up to Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act -- which provides access to the highest maximum penalties.

"The most serious cases will be dealt with by a team of designated federal prosecutors who will have specially developed tools to assist them in conveying to the courts the full impact of the production and distribution of this harmful substance," said federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler in a statement.

Earlier this year, Health Canada proposed amendments to add four "precursor chemicals," used in the production of methamphetamine, to the list of controlled chemicals under the Precursor Control Regulations.

The possession of these substances would become an offence resulting in either a fine of up to $5000, up to three years imprisonment, or both.

"Together, these actions support education and treatment programs already being undertaken across the country by various levels of government and community organizations," said a news release issued Thursday by Health Canada.

Methamphetamine facts:

It's a synthetic drug that can be snorted, smoked, injected, or swallowed.
Known as "the poor man's cocaine," crystal meth is relatively easy to manufacture.

Its main ingredient is a cold remedy that's mixed with about a dozen other chemicals, many which are available in hardware stores.
It can cost users only $5 a day, and causes as sense of "euphoria, openness and intellectual expansion," according to the panel report.
It's known on the street by the names chalk, crank, fire, gak, glass, jib and speed.

An investment of about $150 can yield up to $10,000 worth of meth, according to police

LInk
 
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They should realise that severity of punishment will not act as a deterrant to many criminals, particularly given those kinds of profit margins.
 
I hate their logic:

Crazeee said:
... [meth is] a highly addictive drug ...
Click to expand...

... Prime Minister Anne McLellan announced on Thursday an increase in the maximum penalties from 10 years to life in prison ...
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ie: "Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug so let's punish those who become addicted!"

Great thinking! 8)
 
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^^^The stiff sentences are to be applied to traffickers and pushers. The penalties are also increased for those possessing "precursor" chemicals.

This has been on the news all day today here in British Columbia, and there has been no mention of penalties to users.
 
Users' families welcome crystal meth crackdown

Users' families welcome crystal meth crackdown
It's an awful drug,' addict's mother says

By JANE ARMSTRONG
Friday, August 12, 2005

VANCOUVER -- Longer jail sentences for crystal methamphetamine dealers and users might never help Brenda Richardson's addicted son, but the Victoria woman is glad Ottawa is cracking down on those who produce and peddle the substance that is sometimes called poor man's cocaine.

"It's such an awful drug," said Ms. Richardson, who has witnessed her 25-year-old son, Aaron, plunge into methamphetamine-induced psychotic episodes. Once an ace student, Aaron now spends his days watching science programs on television.

Like scores of other Canadians affected by crystal methamphetamine -- or meth as it's called on the street -- Ms. Richardson welcomed the stricter sentences, saying it sends a message to users, dealers, police and prosecutors that production of the drug is a serious crime.

"Right now, anyone can make it if you've got a bathroom," Ms. Richardson said. "It would be nice if they could make it harder to get."

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced the changes at a news conference in Vancouver yesterday.

The maximum penalty for production and distribution has been increased to life imprisonment from 10 years. The maximum penalty for possession rises to seven years from three.

The changes put crystal meth in the same league as heroin and cocaine.

"We are making a clear and unambiguous statement about the gravity of the offence and about the responsibility of the offender," Mr. Cotler told reporters, adding the changes give law enforcement officials more teeth to go after dealers.

"It will be law in action, not just law on the books."

Mr. Cotler said Ottawa is aware of the ravages the drug causes, adding the tougher sentences will have an impact.

Police were also pleased with the changes, saying they hope the tougher sentences will deter prospective dealers. "You just look at how many people have died from crystal meth," said RCMP Corporal Tom Seamanin of British Columbia's E Division.

Crystal Meth has swept across Western Canada, causing alarm among police, youth workers and health authorities. The drug arrived about five years ago on the West Coast, landing first in Vancouver's club scene. Like ecstasy, it gives users energy and stamina for all-night dance raves.

However, it is highly toxic and can cause irreparable brain damage. It can also induce psychosis.

In Vancouver, youth workers say the drug has caused mayhem at shelters when out-of-control users arrive in a psychotic state.

While meth has made inroads into the middle class, the population it has gripped the most tightly is street kids.

In addition to dulling hunger and fatigue, it is cheap. A "point" of meth, meaning one-tenth of a gram, costs $10 and its effect lasts up to 12 hours.

It is also easy to buy and easy to make. Recipes can be found on the Internet, and the main ingredients -- ephedrine, red phosphorous and iodine -- can be purchased at a drug or hardware store. They're the same ingredients found in allergy remedies and other medicines.

Some U.S. states have moved Sudafed and similar medicines behind the counter to combat the problem.

Mr. Dosanjh said the federal government isn't doing that, but he expects individual provinces to act.

"These regulations that will come into effect in the fall will not have the direct effect having Sudafed and others being put behind the counter," he said. "I think those decisions will be prompted at the provincial level and provinces I'm sure will do that. It's something in their jurisdiction."

Crystal meth is on the agenda of the premiers conference being held at Banff, Alta.

Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert, among the premiers who led the fight for increased penalties involving the drug, said the federal government's moves will help act as a strong deterrent.

"When you see penalties that would require life imprisonment, the same kind of penalty that you see for the trafficking in heroin, that has to send out a very significant signal," Mr. Calvert told reporters there.

"This is not just a western problem. A few years ago the incidents of crystal meth in the United States were similar to what we're seeing in parts of Canada. Within a matter of three or four years this has become an epidemic."

In Victoria, Ms. Richardson said the worst thing about having a loved one addicted to the drug is the feeling of helplessness watching someone degenerate. She said her son got into drugs as a young teenager. He tried crystal meth because he loved to dance and at first the drug fuelled his energy.

Now, at 25, he is still addicted.

"You look into their eyes and there is nothing there," Ms. Richardson said. "It's a terrible feeling."

LInk
 
"You just look at how many people have died from crystal meth," said RCMP Corporal Tom Seamanin of British Columbia's E Division.
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Does anyone have the actual #'s ?
 
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This is just insane annd has really come down under the radar screen. Except for an exceptional program or agency here or there, most of the public health info has been real moral panic stuff and not oriented towards harm reduction.

Toronto Star Aug. 12, 2005

Aug._12, 2005. 01:00_AM
_Ottawa toughens laws on crystal meth
Sentences lengthened for possession, trafficking of drug
Substance abuse experts warn that move won't deter use


ANDREW MILLS
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA—The federal government is raising the maximum penalty to life from 10 years for the trafficking and manufacturing of crystal meth, the increasingly popular but deadly illegal drug.

Those caught in possession of the potent stimulant will face maximum sentences of seven years instead of three, the health and justice ministers announced yesterday.

Though Ottawa characterized the new sentencing as a crackdown intended to deter offenders, substance abuse experts dismissed it as a political move.


"This will not work any better than it has for heroin or for cocaine," said Benedikt Fischer, a public health policy research scientist at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. "This is political action, but will it really do something for the problem? No."

Crystal meth gives a euphoric, long-lasting high at a fraction of the price of other hard drugs and, by some accounts, those who snort, smoke, inject or ingest crystal are becoming Canada's next biggest drug problem: it's highly addictive.

"The need, the craving is never satisfied. The more you get the more you want," Fischer said. "Like filling a bucket with a hole in it."

Though there is little data to give an accurate picture of how many Canadians are using crystal meth, the RCMP says it is a smouldering crisis, especially in Western Canada's smaller towns.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
`This will not work any better than it has for heroin or for cocaine.'

Benedikt Fischer, scientist at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crystal meth usage is so widespread partly because the drug is so easy to manufacture: it is "cooked" using readily available household chemicals or over-the-counter decongestants.


Earlier this year, Health Canada proposed to make it illegal for someone to possess those "precursor chemicals" if they intend to produce illegal substances like crystal meth.

But one of Ottawa's central tools in the struggle against such drugs is handing down stiff deterrents to those who make, distribute and take crystal meth.

"You want to send a message saying, `We view this seriously and we tell you that if you're caught doing these things you will face a maximum penalty of life,'" Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said in an interview. "That always has a deterrent effect on particularly the importers and exporters and traffickers."

In Banff, Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert characterized Ottawa's new move as a significant step that will prevent crystal meth in Canada from becoming "epidemic" it is in the United States.

"That has to send out a very significant signal both in terms of deterrence," he said. "It also sends a very strong signal to Canadians about how significant an issue this has the potential to become."

Though the RCMP welcomed the increased sentences, the Canadian Professional Police Association said it doesn't go far enough.

"The problem is there are no mandatory minimum sentences there. So what's going to happen, still again, is that we're going to see judges give lenient sentences," said Tony Cannavino, the association's president. "They'll never give life."

But substance abuse experts point to the abundance of heroin and cocaine, whose users and traffickers face the same sentences to be handed down for crystal meth, and conclude that such disincentives don't work.

WITH FILES FROM SEAN GORDON
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Link

linkage added - Skyline
 
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Edmonton Sun
13 August 2005

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Jacobs_Mindelle/2005/08/13/1170987.html

Need Meth Minimums

By MINDELLE JACOBS

Don't hold your breath waiting for tough sentences now that Ottawa has increased the maximum penalty for meth production and trafficking to life in prison.

No one has ever received 10 years in jail for a drug crime - the old maximum - never mind life behind bars.

Conditional sentences are all the rage these days, thanks to the Liberals, who implemented sentencing changes a decade ago.

House arrest may be appropriate for some criminals but should we allow drug producers and traffickers to loll around at home instead of doing hard time?

The Liberals could easily have made serious drug offenders ineligible for conditional sentences but they didn't. As a result, less than half of drug traffickers go to jail.

And they typically only spend a few months behind bars anyway. The fines are also piddling.

Given this sentencing pattern, increasing the penalties for meth producers and traffickers to life in prison will accomplish absolutely nothing.

Drug pushers are the scum of the earth and, unless they're addicts, they should be subject to mandatory minimum sentences. How about five years for a first offence?

People selling drugs to feed their addictions should be compelled to take drug treatment.

However, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said Thursday that he opposes mandatory minimum sentences. He says they don't serve as a deterrent.

I think a five- or 10-year sentence might deter your run-of-the-mill criminal from getting into drug trafficking. At least you'd get some traffickers off the streets for a few years.

Combine mandatory minimum sentences with substantially more money for prevention programs and drug treatment and we could actually make a dent in the drug war.

"They have to go with mandatory minimum sentencing if they really want to resolve the problem," says Tony Cannavino, president of the Canadian Professional Police Association.

"We all know that judges will never give those high sentences," he says.

Let's face it: Canada is pretty soft on drug producers and traffickers. We're so enamoured with the concept of rehabilitation that we cringe at the notion of punishment.

It bears repeating that addicts who sell drugs need help. Traffickers who peddle death and destruction deserve a long time in jail.

The Liberal approach is like "fighting cancer with Band-

Aids," Conservative justice critic Vic Toews said the other day.

"What is needed are minimum prison sentences for criminals who are profiting by destroying the lives of Canadians."

On the other end of the spectrum is Ottawa lawyer Eugene Oscapella, who believes we should end the prohibition of illicit drugs.

"Prove to me that law enforcement works," says Oscapella, president of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.

Drug pushers are simply "opportunistic capitalists" who are serving the market the government created by prohibiting drugs, he says.

"Most of these so-called epidemics are self-limiting because people find out it's a bad drug and word on the street gets around," says Oscapella.

Pointing to the reduction in tobacco consumption, he says drug use can be reduced as well through regulatory policies and public education.

He says 95% of the money Ottawa spends on its drug strategy is related to law enforcement, the courts and correctional services.

"That leaves five per cent for measures that might work," says Oscapella.

The end of drug prohibition? Oh, perhaps in the 22nd century, after we've tried everything else.


8(
 
Critics Say Meth Policy All Talk
By Alexandra Paul, Winnipeg Free Press
August 12, 2005

The parents of a young crystal meth addict who was murdered by his associates scoffed yesterday at Ottawa's get-tough sentencing announcement.

The federal government raised the maximum sentence for crystal meth trafficking to life in prison from 10 years, bringing it in line with cocaine and heroin.

"Well, you know, the first thought that came to my head? Easy to write a law; hard to enforce it," said Floyd Wiebe, the father of T.J. Wiebe, 20, from South St. Vital who was murdered in 2003.

"It's a terrible drug and it's cheap," said Wiebe. "But this will have no effect... except for plea bargaining between crown attorneys and defence lawyers."

Others with a personal stake in the damage inflicted by methamphetamine addiction reacted with similar cynicism.

Critics said the announcement appears designed to draw marginally tougher sentences from a reluctant judicial system, and bring Canada's handling of drug crimes into line with the expectations of the United States government. "They're doing the same old thing. They're saying we've got to do something so let's toughen up the penalties," said Ottawa drug lawyer Eugene Oscapella, of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.

"When you get right down to it this is politics. These are politicians pretending to do something," he told CanWest News Service.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler called it "a kind of wake-up call that deals with something that not only harms the user but the community of which the user is a part."

At their meeting in Banff, Canada's premiers, particularly the four westerners, applauded the move. Crystal meth is more prevalent in the West.

In Winnipeg, the announcement evoked disturbing memories for the Wiebes.

Their son T.J. Wiebe was murdered in a dispute involving crystal meth. Another complicating factor in the mix was a love triangle between T.J. and another young man who was a rival for the affections of a 17-year old girl. Wiebe was injected with a syringe of Draino, strangled with a shoelace, stabbed in the throat and left to die in a snowy field outside Winnipeg.

This spring, Anthony Pulsifer, not the young man who was the love rival, was sentenced to life in prison on a conviction of conspiracy to murder and second-degree murder for executing a January, 2003 plot to kill Wiebe.

In the wake of the murder, Wiebe's parents have become standard bearers in a crusade against methamphetamine, also called crank, speed or ice.

They have started an education fund that is to be launched this September in Grade 7 classes at the Louis Riel School Division. It will offer small grants so students can stage theatrical performances or social events that discourage illegal drug use.

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This is just another move to appease the American admin... Each day that passes, I'm becoming disgusted with myself for voting for the lesser of the two evils.. Putting people in jails a lot longer won't do anything... When you are on meth, you don't thinkabout stuff like that:\
 
not like your going to get life for producing meth... canadas laws are fucked... life= 25 years and you barely ever see that sentenced handed out... most serial killers get 15 years with paroll :\ so how much could you get for the meth 2 years at the most.
 
reronic said:
not like your going to get life for producing meth... canadas laws are fucked... life= 25 years and you barely ever see that sentenced handed out... most serial killers get 15 years with paroll :\ so how much could you get for the meth 2 years at the most.
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You are wrong about the life sentence, yes you could get paroled, but life sentence with no parole = rest of your natural life sentence. There is quite a few people serving this right now.

However, whether murderers and rapists are getting off on light sentences is a topic for another thread.

:|
 
Crazeee said:
You are wrong about the life sentence, yes you could get paroled, but life sentence with no parole = rest of your natural life sentence. There is quite a few people serving this right now.

However, whether murderers and rapists are getting off on light sentences is a topic for another thread.

:|
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In Canada? it is VERY rare to get a true life sentence. Usually it is equilalent to a 25 year jailtime with parole in 12 years or so. I didn't think we had "life with no parole". We have parole, even "faint hope" clauses for the really horrible people. The only designation I know of in Canada that would equal life without chance of parole would be the "Dangerous Offender" provision which keeps them in jail indefinately.

I am extremely surprised that Canada went so harsh on this. Looks like the US has been doing some pushing for us to get "tough on meth". *shrug* Just more Canadians in jail 'tis all it will mean. :(
 
^^^

So you believe increasing penalties will work? It hasn't in America, why should it in Canada?
 
Sudafed being banned?

Word to all BLers in Canada -- please write your MP, the four party leaders, and Minister Cotler to express your dismay at the discussion of minimum sentences. This is the road to hell without much good intention. Also write Senators. I disagree with the Senate existing, but it has been the best force in Ottawa around harm reduction issues.

Find your elected representative and other politicians here.

From Toronto Star 18 Aug. 2005: Aug._18, 2005. 01:40_PM
Meth war targets cold medicines


ANDREW CHUNG
STAFF REPORTER
Health and police officials are urging the restriction of the sale of the country's most popular cold medications because they contain a key ingredient used to make crystal methamphetamine, a potentially lethal street drug.

They intend to persuade a new crystal meth task force, soon to be announced by the provincial government, of the necessity to restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine, a chemical found in many cold and allergy medications such as Sudafed, Actifed and Contac, which crystal meth cooks use to make the highly addictive drug.

"The bottom line is that without pseudoephedrine you cannot make crystal meth," said Perth County medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Pellizzari. "Restricting access to it will act as a deterrent to the production of crystal meth."

The goal of the new committee, an offshoot of the government's Green Tide Action Group on marijuana grow operations, is to recommend a strategy for the province to deal with the growing problem of crystal meth use and production.

(Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman said today that the province is considering restricting the sales of some cold medications, Canadian Press reports.

(Smitherman said the province may require prescriptions to buy cold medications like Sudafed, Actifed and Contac.)

The problem is already deeply entrenched in the western provinces, but officials here know the drug is sweeping eastward and want to tackle it in its early stages, so they don't fall behind the rest of North America in stopping it.


"They've had a horrible experience with it out west and the fear is that it's going to become the case in Ontario," said David Bedard of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, who will co-chair the group.

Many American states have restricted access to the everyday medications by limiting their sale or placing them behind the pharmacist's counter.

In June the health ministers of Canada's western provinces pledged to come up with plans to do the same by October. Part of the urgency stemmed from their counterparts in the U.S., who feared their own strict regulations would lead to smuggling from Canada. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem told the health ministers, "Everybody has to join in and be willing to accept some minor inconvenience to put up some major road blocks."

No such plan is in the works for Ontario.

But Perth-Middlesex MPP John Wilkonson said it probably should be. "If someone wants to buy three cases of Sudafed, that's not normal."

The vast rural landscape of Perth County, around Stratford, has made it the crystal meth capital of Ontario. It's now the biggest drug problem there, and police have reported thieves stealing cold medications right out of the box.

Crystal meth is gaining in popularity because the high is long-lasting and intense, and it is so cheap. A user can stay high for 12 hours for as little as $5.

But side effects, including heart problems, hallucinations and violence, can be devastating.

Pellizzari, who was at an organizational meeting of the new meth committee on Aug. 3, calls crystal a "suicide drug" because, she said, it is so lethal. "Parents and children need to understand it's not like marijuana, not just a substance of abuse. It can kill you. Essentially it's like ingesting poison. People don't go and ingest Drano for pleasure."

Pellizzari proposes radical action: making the cold and allergy pills available only by prescription, something the federal government would have to do, but has no plans for.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
`It can kill you. Essentially it's like ingesting poison. People don't go and ingest Drano for pleasure'

Dr. Rosana Pellizzari, Perth medical officer of health


------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Tuesday, Oregon became the first U.S. state to enact such a law in the face of a meth scourge.


If Canada fails to make drugs containing pseudoephedrine available only by prescription, Pellizzari said. "The compromise position would be to keep it behind the counter."

The Ontario Provincial Police clandestine lab co-ordinator said the meth group should consider proposing legislation to limit purchases of medications containing pseudoephedrine to small quantities.

Det.-Sgt. Paul Henry also wants a Meth Watch program, similar to that in the U.S. and the western provinces, started here to educate pharmacists and business owners on when purchases of crystal meth precursors become suspect.

"That would have business owners working with us as our eyes and ears and notify us of some of these transactions," Henry said.

Wilkinson said the provincial government could also play a role in restricting other meth precursors.

The farm fertilizer anhydrous ammonia is also used in one major meth recipe. "If you're not a farmer why do you need anhydrous ammonia?" said Wilkinson. "We may need to put restrictions on these precursors."

Health Canada has proposed regulating certain other chemicals used to make meth, such as red phosphorous, and illegal possession would carry stiff fines or imprisonment.

Last week the federal government made meth a Schedule I drug, increasing maximum penalties for possession or production.

Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson told the meth group's initial meeting that the drug is taking a significant health and economic toll on small communities.

For instance, it recently cost his city $4,000 just to have four propane tanks removed from one meth lab.

Mathieson said a meth prevention program must also be introduced in schools.

"Awareness, intervention — that's something we can all do. We don't need a minister involved or legislation to do that."

The meth group will consider all suggestions, said chairman Bedard. But it has not yet been given a deadline to develop a strategy, he reported.

"You can't go off half-cocked and start doing things. We're going to get the information and try to develop a strategy that's going to work for us."

With files from Canadian press



Link.
 
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